Equal Chance Program
The Equal Chance Program (ECP for short) is a social program created by Keene Milton, although all the Milton ferrets take some part in running it. The program was created as one of Keene Milton’s efforts to fight for animal rights. It focuses on giving individual animals the opportunity of participating in human society with the same freedoms as humans. Some examples are the wolves who got tired of feral life, King who was transformed into a dog and then abandoned by his owner, and Sasha who was abused by her previous owner. History The human owner of the Milton ferrets, Henry Milton, was a multi-billionaire who founded Babylon Gardens to be a “pet-friendly neighborhood” and had the life-long goal of achieving equality between animals and humans. The Milton ferrets call this his “plan”. He died with no children, and his “beloved pet ferrets” inherit most of his fortune. The ferrets quickly begin spending the money recklessly and impulsively. Not much later, Keene Milton, the “chief” of the ferrets, admits to feeling guilty about not continuing their father’s plan. For this reason, he decides to take in the feral wolf pack under his protection and give them the chance of participating in human society as part of a “social program”. And so, the Equal Chance Program is born. Throughout its existence, the ECP has and continues to support and shelter many of the characters of Housepets. See the “Members” section for a complete list. Almost ten years after he created the program, Keene decides to retire from leading the fight for equality, including the ECP. He realizes that his aggressive pursuit of equality was negatively impacting the ones he wanted to help, so he leaves Lana Milton to take control of the Equal Chance Program. He instead becomes an advisor for Lana. In the events of “My Life as a teenage Squirrel”, it’s revealed that Herman Steward is attempting to bankrupt Keene Milton by transforming humans into animals with a cursed golden coin from Pete’s temple. Steward is himself a victim of the curse, having been turned into a badger after the events of “Temple Crashers 2”. Since Steward used to oversee the Milton’s economy, he knows that the ECP is in financial trouble. He also knows that Keene can’t turn down animals who want help from the ECP. Therefore, by cursing humans into becoming animals, he hopes that he might ruin Keene financially. Members 'The Wolf Pack' The wolves are the very first members of the Equal Chance Program. By exploiting loopholes in the pet ownership laws, Keene Milton can legally own the wolves as his own pets even though he is an animal himself. Instead of treating the wolves like pets, though, he gives them their own house in Babylon Gardens and relative independence from him. Keene is worried that these unusual circumstances will attract attention and backlash from the public, so he makes sure all the legal requirements are met. This means that all the wolves must pass the General Obedience Exam (GOE) which is given to feral animals who wish to be pets. He then hires the adult males as security guards for the Milton Estate. Many years later, the ferrets decide to move onto the so called “second phase” of the Equal Chance Program, where the members of the ECP are incentivized to find a job among humans and further integrate into human society. Miles quickly finds work as a substitute teacher where he’s addressed as “Mr. The Wolf”, and his cubs become students at the same school. Poncho becomes a zoo wolf part-time, and the two Daryl’s become cooks. Natalie had by that time already started working at a call center, and Jack finds work at a legitimate pawn shop. 'King' At the end of "Dog Days of Summer", Pete the Gryphon is forced to abandon King, so he joins the ECP instead. Keene Milton then tells him that he is now owned by the ferret, although this isn’t “technically true for three separate legal reasons”. This further demonstrates that the ECP takes advantage of loopholes and legal gray-areas in order to operate. King moves into the wolf house and has lived there since. When the ECP moves onto the "second phase", Lana Milton tells King that he has to find himself a job so he can support himself and further integrate into human society. King has yet to find one, though. Member template: 'The Wolves' ... Category:Political Category:Milton Ferrets